Feathers
by lupiNsirius3838
Summary: Maddie Brady is THE new girl at Hogwarts and, even on the first day, seems to not fit in; making unlikely friends and uncommon enemies. But the two hardest parts for Maddie are seemingly easy: Life without Feathers and Lying.
1. Chapter 1

Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and James Potter may be the best friends I've ever had.

My story isn't very long, so I think I might as well torture you with it for as long as I possibly can. It's a thrilling tale of adventure, friendship, and some seriously stupid boys doing some seriously stupid things. So, now I've warned you, and we'll begin our tale.

"No." I said finally, as though that could cease the converstaion.  
"Maddie, please, it's so much safer for you there than it is here." My mother pleaded.  
"No." I repeated, shoveling lima beans into my mouth. I wanted to finish dinner with the final word being "No."  
"Maddie, please listen, the headmaster knows you're out of school because of your father's job, he's offering the best protection he can give." My mother told me for maybe the twelveth time that dinner.  
"Mom, I know. And I say no." I repeated for the twentieth time. My dad had long since given up the conversation and went to go watch the baseball game on TV. The headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had sent me an invitation to join Hogwarts this coming school year. My father had lost his job as a Ministry wand checker and now we were moving to get him a new job. I did not want to go to Hogwarts. I can't really tell you why, but I didn't. The unknown seemed more unknown then usual in this strange time. How could I go to Hogwarts, make new friends, and still maintain a 4.0 average?  
"Maddie. Listen to your mother. This is a big thing that's happened to me and it would help if you would just go."  
"Nope."  
"Maddie, your being selfish." That struck a nerve.  
"I am not selfish." I told him.  
"You're being selfish." He repeated, obviously annoying me. "I am NOT." I said angrily.  
"Yes, you are. if you just went, then I could get a new job and still be able to support you and your mother. And if you don't like it, you can come home." I thought about that for a second. It was a good deal. I could stay safe from Cole. I could be new. I could be safe, new, and I could come home. It sounded good now that he had put it in prospective for me.  
"Fine. But if I don't like it, I don't have to stay?" I asked.  
"Yes." My mother said, relieved.  
"Yes." My father said smiling. And that's when I figured out I was completely screwed.

The tall, messy-haired, sneering boy stood chanting spells with two others. The other boy with them simply watched. One boy lay on the ground, cringing in agony as the other boys hexed him with every curse they probably knew, which was, I have to admit, more than I realized. The boy on the ground had a look of pure hatred for the four above him and had blood and snot pouring out of every pore on his face. He had long, thin, black hair that came in straight wisps down his outraged face. I didn't know what to do, so I acted on impulse. I couldn't let this boy get hurt like this. I ran over to the small group and pulled the messy-haired boy's wand away from him. He looked at me with surprise, then curiosity.  
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked.  
"What do YOU think YOU'RE doing?" I replied angrily. I kneeled down beside the boy on the ground who was panting and sweating as though he had run a marathon in under ten minutes. "Are you alright?" I asked the boy. They all looked about my age, which was sixteen. The boy only nodded, and I guessed he didn't have the breath to reply.  
"Hey, babe, I know what this looks like, but, I mean, come on, we were just having some-"  
"Fun?" I asked him, standing up and glared at the boy who had spoken. He was taller than the rest, but only by a couple of inches. He had long dark hair and a smile that made me want to punch him. "You think that hexing a boy until he's in pain is FUN?" I questioned him fiercly. I kneeled back down to the boy on the floor who had stopped panting and was breathing easily. He was trying to get up. I put one arm around my shoulder and helped him up. As soon as he was standing he took his arm away from my neck and eyed me in an interested way. The four boys grumbled and walked away, but not before the one who I took the wand from had grabbed it from my grip.  
"I'm Maddie." I told the boy I had helped. I held out my hand.  
"Severus." He replied, shaking my hand. He was a mess, with blood and snot and tears of anger all over his face.  
"Ooh...that looks like it hurts." I told him, smiling a bit. The boy laughed. "Would you like me to fix it?"  
"Would you?" He asked me politely.  
"Stand still." I instructed him. He did as he was told, and held his breath. "Episkey." His face returned to normal, all the blood, snot, and tears wiped away by an invisible sponge.  
"Thank you." He finally told me. For stopping the curses or fixing his face, I couldn't tell. I was a thoughtful, sweet, and kind person these days.  
"Oh, shit, here they come again." I stopped. I whipped my wand up my sleeve and sneered at the boys.  
"Hey, we didn't get your name." Another boy informed me. He looked kind. I remember him to be the only boy who wasn't hexing, but watching. But that made me dislike him for letting that happen to this boy. His friends all looked at me. I decided I wouldn't answer their question.  
"I'm Remus. Remus Lupin." The boy told me, putting out his hand. I glanced at it and continued to simper into his grey eyes. He was obviously trying very hard not to laugh. "This is Sirius Black," He gestured at the boy who had said hexing was fun, "James Potter," he gestured to the one had been hexing, "And Peter Pettigrew." He finished, sesturing towards the boy who had been hexing also.  
"It doesn't look as though she'll be telling YOU four any time soon." Severus snapped.  
"How would you know, Snape?" Sirius barked at him.  
"Because she helped me, not you, Black," Snape spat at him.  
"Maddie." I told the four boys quietly. The fighting paused and Remus smiled sincerelly.  
"It looks as though we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. See, Severus here punched James. James started hexing Severus. You jumped in and said that we were hurting him. So you see-"  
"I don't want explainations." I snapped at Remus, who looked taken aback.  
"Miss Brady? Miss Brady! Miss Brady?" A voice called through the crowd. I left the five boys glaring at each other and went in search of the voice. I pushed through students outside the large castle doors. I ran head first into an older woman who had been calling my name. "Oh! I'm sorry dear, wasn't looking at where I was going," The woman sighed. Then she really looked at me and said "Oh! You must be Miss Brady."  
"Yes, ma'am." I replied, smiling.  
"My name is Professor Mcgonagall. I'll be your transfiguration teacher this year. If you can come with me inside, we need to find out what house you'll be in," she told me above the shouting and laughing of other students. She opened one of the two doors a crack and slid through with me on her heels. She locked it back up before she let any more students in. We walked briskly towards a staircase that led up to lord knows where. We climbed the stairs and went into the first door we got to. She took out her wand and flicked it at the door, and it swung open. We went into her room briskly, me first, and she closed the door behind us. There was a large desk and three chairs in front of it. I sat in the center chair as she sat down behind the desk, pulling a folder open.  
"Now...Miss Madeliene Brady...Aha, here you are!" She said, pulling a thin stack of papers out. She reveiwed it quickly. There was a wide variety of ornaments on her walls, from moving pictures of students, to a picture of an older man, then to many awards and papers that were framed. In the corner, there was a stool with an old, tattered wizards hat.  
"Miss Brady, I have to say when we recieved word that you would be attending Hogwarts this year that we were so very excited. You have an 'outstanding' in all of your former classes at the American wizarding school and seem to be a very good student, from what I hear. The only thing is that we hope you can keep that up this year. Can you do that?" She asked me.  
"Oh, of course, professor." I smiled. She returned it warmly.  
"So tell me which house you were in at the American School." Mcgonagall said.  
"Dustin." I informed her. I had been top student, as well, but that didn't need saying.  
"Ah, the brave and the brilliant. Well, except for the...well, we won't go into that right now." She recited from what our headmaster had told us. She looked over the file on me again and looked up smiling. "I daresay, we should probably get you sorted out in here, I hear the other students coming up now for the feast. There are four houses: Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin." She said the last in a different voice than she said the others.  
"Which one do you teach?" I asked her. "I teach them all, but I am head of house for Gryffindor." She smiled again. "I'll just get the hat..." She stood and walked briskly to the corner and picked up the old hat.  
"Wait, you said, except for the something. Except for the what?" I asked her as she placed the hat on the desk and looked at me.  
"Miss Brady, it says here that you're parents used you as a test subject?" She asked me, holding up my file.  
"Yes." I admitted.  
"And that it went horribly wrong?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, then I think we both know the outcome of that if it's in your file." Mcgonagall smiled. "Now, the sorting house will analyze your skills and abilities and place you in a house. Here we go..." She said, putting it on my head. She leaned back against her desk and waited. Suddenly a voice said something out loud.  
"Oho! What do we have here, Professor? Very bright, oh yes, very bright indeed. Very kind...and brave. Almost too kind. So very brave...sounds like a job for a Slytherin teacher...but no, she's too bright for that...maybe Hufflepuff. She has a great mind, great powers, if she knows he to use them. She will be a very good student for whoever gets her. Oh yes, very bright indeed...Ravenclaw might not be the suitable choice...I suppose Hufflepuff is the way to go with this one, but she is too brave, too great, too unpredictable for Hufflepuff. So it's Slytherin or Gryffindor. She's brave. But not enough...I'm thinking Slytherin for this one, professor." The hat seemed to have stopped and made up his mind. Mcgonagall moved forward to take that hat but not before it had it's last word.  
"But I suppose Gryfindor would be suitable. It would be the best place for a brave soul like this one to go. Except for the..." Then it really did stop. It stopped moving and talking and went limp. So Mcgonagall, beaming, took the hat and placed it on her desk.  
"Welcome to Gryfindor." She smiled.

I took the stairs down two at a time. I followed all the laughing and cheering to the longest dining hall I'd ever seen. A man carried out another stool and tattered hat from the hall as I entered. There was food everywhere I looked. Professor Mcgonagall appeared at my shoulder and smiled at me. She pointed to the table that had to be the rowdiest table. There were people laughing and talking loudly. I looked for Severus and found him. At a different table than the one Mcgonagall was leading me to. He caught my eye and waved. I smiled and waved back and gave him a sad look as I was showed to a seat by Mcgonagall. It was by a pretty girl with light red hair and a sweet smile.  
"Hello, Miss Evans." The professor said smiling in approval.  
"Good evening, Professsor." The girl greeted her. "How was your summer?"  
"Just fine, and yours?"  
"Wonderful. I went to Greece with my family!" She said happily.  
"Oh, how exciting! Well, Miss Evans, we have a new student in your year this year. This is Madeliene Brady." She gestured to me.  
"I'm Maddie." I said, smiling.  
"Hi, Maddie! I'm Lily. So I take it you're in Gryffindor?" She asked politely.  
"Oh, yeah. I'm jazzed." I told her happily. I looked at her. She was really pretty. She had green eyes that laughed and light hair that was pulled up into a cute messy bun on the side of her head.  
"I'm glad. Well, come sit. We just barely started the feast." She laughed. I sat down next to her, in front of me was a plate that needed some filling. Mcgonagall walked up to the staff table. "So, was the hat sure you were a Gryffindor?" Lily asked me. "No, at first it thought I was for sure a Slytherin, then Gryffindor, then a lot of talk about Huffelpuff, then Slytherin, then fnally Gryffindor." I explained, and we both laughed.  
"So why did you transfer in the middle of the-" Lily started, but then we were interupted by a rude shower of rolls being thrown at us from down the table. I saw James and Sirius throwing buns at us from the oppisite side of the table. Lily and I squealed with surprise. We shielded our eyes with our arms as the boys continued to throw rolls at us. They finally quit throwing them and we both gave them a look of distaste. Lily looked at me with a puzzled expression. "I can understand how they would throw rolls at me, but why you?" I explained our incounter in front of the school. Lily sighed after my tale. "They never liked Severus much...you have to believe me though, Remus Lupin is one of the most brilliant and kind people you will ever meet. Really." She laughed at my questioning expression. "Are you friends with them?" I asked.  
"Well...Remus, yes. And Sirius is a digusting jerk, but in a way, yes. And James..." She trailed off, sighing and shaking her head. We ate in silence then for a few minutes. When I thought I couldn't eat another bite, the food disapeared and all the bowls refilled with pumpkin tarts and pies and ice cream and all types of desserts. Lily and I looked at each other and laughed. We both had the same bloated, full look.  
"Split a pumpkin tart?" She decided after laughing.  
"Sounds great." I laughed with her. So we split one, and after that I was sure I would never eat another thing ever again.

That's when Someone came up in between Lily and my heads and said, "Boo!" really loud. Lily and I both squealed with fright. James and Sirius laughed and laughed. They had come up behind us and were taunting us. I sneered at them. Lily smiled and rolled her eyes.  
"So Maddie tells me you two were being jerks again." She told them, looking completely serious.  
"What? Us? Never!" Sirius joked, holding his hand in front of his mouth which had formed a fake look of surprise. "Liar." I coughed.  
"What was that, little miss Slytherin lover?" Sirius joked, mussing with my hair. I picked up a cauldron cake and looked at his face right next to mine. He had pretty brown eyes. But they were then covered with cauldron cake a second later. I had squished it against his face. He sputtered and gave me a look of surprise.  
"You think you're so cute, so funny, but really, you're just a big jerk and an ass who has fun by hexing kids." I sneered. He picked up my napkin and wiped his face off. "What's the matter, princess? Lovely Lily hasn't told you how every girl wants me? Why are you so different?" Sirius laughed.  
"YOU HEXED HIM UNTIL HE WAS HURT." I hissed.  
"He hit James!" Sirius defended his friend who was now flirting with Lily, his hand on the table and leaning against it. He was making her laugh while I was trying to defend myself.  
"I don't care, Sirius." Remus came up right then.  
"Well, at least you know my name. That's a start. By the end of the year, you'll be falling head over heals for me. You watch, princess." Sirius whispered to me that I could barely hear.  
"Sirius. James. C'mon. Dumbledore's going to start talking soon. Oh, hello Maddie." Remus greeted me with a smile.  
"Are you what Lily says you are? A good guy?" I demanded of him. He looked a bit confused and then laughed sweetly.  
"Yeah. I guess I am. At least, if you like guys who read." He smiled a toothy smile. I sneered a bit. I didn't even know these people and yet he was already talking about what kind of guys I liked? Just then, a man got up and walked to the podium and looked out over the sea of students. Remus and Sirius and James knew there was no way they could get over to their side of the middle of the table again. So Remus tapped my shoulder and got me to move over a bit. Sirius and Remus squeezed in between me and another kid. I was pressed against Lily, who was pressed aginst James. There was definitely not enough room. But we made do and even though I was BEYOND pissed that I was pressed up against a rude and arrogant boy by the name of Sirius, I listened intently to the headmaster's speech.

"Good evening! And welcome to another magical year at Hogwarts! Welcome back to all those who aren't first years, and to those who are, I welcome you and hope you enjoy your year here. I have some announcements before we go off to bed.  
"For starters, Mr. Filch asks me to remind you all that whoever broke the toilet upstairs on the third floor last year is still being searched for, so please, no pranks. It was very funny, I'm sure, but not to the people who have to clean it up.  
"Next, I also want to remind everyone that no one is permitted outside the grounds without permission of a teacher or me. Curfew is eight o'clock sharp. Be in bed before nightfall, or at least in your common rooms. "We have a new teacher this year, seeing as Professer Jorgins was burned by the flamable plunger last year...but, anyway, our new Potions teacher is a man I know and trust, and know you will like as well, Professer Slughorn." Everyone applauded the new teacher. He was a portly man with a large stomach and a walrus mustache. He had a small glasses perched upon his nose and large robes. Sirius whooped and I covered my ears all too late. I glared at him. He caught my look and winked at me. I sneered and held my nose to say he smelled bad. He laughed. "So, that's about all I need to tell you all except, be careful and use your heads. Alright, Off to bed. Pip Pip!" He said cheerfully. Everyone started to get up and leave then, talking loudly and joking.  
"Well, that was awfully cheerful." Remus joked.  
"Yeah...do you think he knows that it was Sirius and I did the toilet joke?" James asked. He had his arm across Lily's shoulders. Sirius and James got thoughtful expressions. They must have been remembering about the toilet joke, whatever that was. They busted up laughing. So did Lily and Remus and Peter, for he had just joined the throng of us. I felt pretty left out for not knowing. Remus looked at me happily, still chuckling.  
"See, James and Sirius hexed a toilet in the girls bathroom and in the guys and made it shoot fire when anyone went to the loo. It was actually pretty funny when someone went and came out screaming that their pants were on fire..." He said. He pulled me over to Lily and threw his arms around both our shoulders. I made a disgusting look and tried to shake his arm off.

"Not so fast. The only people you should be mad at are Sirius and James. And maybe Peter. But I didn't hex Severus." Remus said to me. "I take it no one's ever hated you before?" I asked him. He had light brown hair and grey eyes that made me want to look away. They were piercing and so light they made me shudder. Someone screamed loudly a little ahead of us. We all looked up then. There was a large dog barrelling down the hall toward us. Remus and Sirius grabbed Peter and I while James grabbed Lily and pulled us back against the wall. It was a bear of a dog, large and brown and sprinting toward Dumbledore, who had come into the hall to inspect the screams. He laughed as the dog bounded up to him and put it's large paws on his chest, barking. I must have looked scared, because nothing like that would have happened at my old school. Remus laughed.  
"Don't worry, it's just Duke. He lives here. He's a friend." He looked over the top of my head to give a significant look at Sirius that I must not have been supposed to catch. Sirius smiled a wide smile at him. They were all taller than me by at least a foot. They were very tall and thin and I felt short. Lily was my height but she was a girl. Everyone was looking at the dog, either smiling and chuckling like the boys were, or squealing and pressing up against the wall like me. Sirius took my hand and tried to lead me forward. I whipped my hand out of his and it flew back, hitting someone. I gasped, putting my hands over my mouth. James was holding his face.  
"Ooowww..." He wailed.  
"Oh my gosh, James, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" I asked, moving forward to inspect his face.  
"Now we're even. I hexed Severus and you hit me." James smiled, grabbing hold of my wrists.  
"That's not fair. You hexed him on purpose. I didn't mean to hit you." I twisted my wrists to release myself. James had a strong grip and I couldn't get out. Everyone was moving now. And now we were at the back of the wave of students. Sirius got a hold of the idea that it would be funny if he picked me up, so he grabbed me by the waist and lifted easily off the ground and he and James had a hold on me and were carrying my down the hall, with me and them fighting all the way. Remus was trying to pry me free and Lily was helping him. Peter laughed and tried to help James and Sirius. It was like a crazed football team running down the hall, and I was being carried. I screamed. There weren't many students left, we were the last ones left in the halls. I wriggled, and finally Remus got one of James's hands off my leg and that one dropped, unbalancing my bottom half, making my left side flip over. Sirius tried to hold on, but he couldn't and I went crashing to the floor. I instantly checked my arms to make sure they were ok. Everyone looked at each other, apparently surprised I wasn't hurt or at least wretching at all them.

But right now all I was worried about was my arms. They moved fine. In complete silence, I checked over my arms. Then I checked the ground around me. I saw nothing. But then I saw a single feather on the ground under where I was sitting. A small blue and red feather. I quickly covered it with my hands. Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit. Oh please, please, please, PLEASE tell me no one saw that. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you ok, Mads?" Sirius asked me, putting out an arm and pulling me up to a standing position.  
"'Mads?'" I asked him, giving him a look of contempt.  
"Are you ok?" Remus asked me again, looking worried he had lost my trust.  
"Yeah, thank you Remus, I'm fine." I smiled. He chuckled and shook his head. The sliver of a moon was rising outside. We all turned and walked towards the common room for Gryffindor.  
"So, Maddie, do you play Quidditch?" James asked me, arm around Lily's shoulders again.  
"Quidditch?" I asked him. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks.  
"You don't know what Quidditch is?" Peter asked, giggling.  
"Are you serious?" James asked, mouth agape.  
"What! I just don't know what it is! Is that so bad?" I defended msyelf, feeling silly.  
"Well, you'll find out when James and I take you out tomorrow. We're all going out to practice after classes. You too, Evans." Sirius announced to us all.  
"Never in a million years, Black." I hissed.  
"Aw, come on, I'm really not that bad when you get to know me. And trust me, you will get to know me." Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Ugh, so gross." I protested. Just then, as we got close to the staircase to the common room, we heard four voices taunting each other. We rounded the corner and collided with a group of boys. I recognized Severus and smiled at him. He smiled at me and then his expression turned cold when he saw James and Sirius. And maybe even Remus, who was walking beside me.

"Evening, Gentlemen." Remus smiled calmly. I was amazed he could keep such a calm temper with someone he didn't like.  
"Evans. Brady." Severus acknowledged the girls, nodding.  
"Severus." Lily replied coldly. Severus kept his gaze on me. Sirius, Remus, and James noticed this.  
"Is there something we can do for you?" Sirius asked, stepping forward and in front of me, very lightly and casually so no one would notice his protective stance. I shrank back. Everyone was drawing their wands. Lily took hold of my hand we started to walk around the groups. But two of the bigger boys from Severus's group stood in our way. I moaned in a low toan. I didn't like fighting. They just smiled and folded their arms across their chests.  
"Mulciber. Avery. Let Brady and Evans get through." Sirius barked at them. They didn't move.  
"TODAY." Remus said, less calmly.  
"Expelliarmus!" Severus spoke, flicking his wand at Sirius. The hex missed him by inches.  
"Stupify!" Remus said, shooting a hex at one of the boys guarding our way. He fell like a large rock. I tried to get through, still holding Lily's hand, but the other boy stood in the way.  
"Locomotor Mortis!" Severus yelled at Peter. Peter went down, his legs locked.  
"Flipendo!" Sirius yelled at Severus. Severus was too late to miss the spell and was knocked backwards.  
"Stupefy!" The fourth boy yelled from behind Severus. It hit James square in the chest, and he fell very hard against the ground, hitting his head on the floor. Blood started to ooze slowly from his head, but no one noticed, they were still dueling. Lily gasped and ran toward him. I could only stare at her as she started to cry over James, whispering spell after spell to make his head close up. Suddenly, James sat up straight, looking at Lily's sad eyes. I missed what happened then, because I was protecting myself fromt he duel. I didn't like fighting and I never would. It scared me to be in the middle of it all.  
"Petrificus Totalus!" Severus screamed, not looking at where he was aiming his curse. It shattered part of the stone wall above my head.  
"Stupefy!" Sirius yelled at Severus. Again, Severus was too slow to get out of the way. Severus was stunned and became completely still as he crumpled on the ground. The duel was obviously done. But then Sirius walked over to him and yelled at him,"DON'T EVER HEX A GIRL YOU FILTHY..." He was upset that Severus was trying to hex a girl? I couldn't believe it. And he couldn't even finish the sentence, instead he just spat on the floor close to Severus's head.  
"Finite Incantatum." I said loudly. Everyone was back to life and normal again. Peter was trying to get up with his knees back to normal, and Severus was up and back on his feet along with his big buddy. "How did you know that spell?" Lily asked me quietly.  
"I study." I shrugged. Severus sneered at us all and walked on down the hall with his friends.

"You can't tell me what to do, Black!" Severus taunted from down the hall.  
"Piss off, Snape!" Sirius yelled back. "Are you alright?" He asked me.  
"Fine." I whispered. "I don't like fighting." "I'm sorry you had to see that then." Remus murmured.  
"Do you see what I mean now? He always starts it!" James whined. It sounded like a five year old. We all laughed. Then we got to the top of another staircase, and everyone stopped. I didn't understand why were stopping; we were staring straight at a portrait of a fairly large woman.  
"Password?" She asked suddenly, causing me to squeal in fright. "Oh right!" Remus said, turning to me, seeing my suprised expression. "Being the new girl takes its toll, doesn't it?" I started to realize that I was the new girl and that I had a lot to learn. Like where the classes were, or who to be friends with. I was suprised that I had made myself acquainted with the people I had. Everyone always referred to me as the girl who studied a lot, had nice friends, and never got in trouble.  
"Well..." I hesitated.  
"We'll teach you everything you'll need to know. Tonight, if you want." Remus offered kindly. I smiled a him. He returned it.  
"Now," James said, rubbing his hands together fast, "where shall we teach the young one? She clearly doesn't know how to behave in a duel, I'm thinking that she's the studius type-" Here James exchanged a look at Sirius and made fake barfing noises, "So we may as well teach her before we incounter the crazy train again." That made Sirius and Remus laugh, Peter just looked around lazily.  
"Well, I think we need to ask newbie girl here." Sirius suggested, jerking a thumb in my direction.

So, at this point, I guess I could call Remus my friend. And James was OK, once you got past the fact that he was a major flirt and Sirius Black's best friend. Speaking of Sirius, I didn't call us friends at this point. He was arrogant, rude, and frankly, he fought too much. He goofed off and hexed people because he could. I didn't want to call myself his friend.

"Well, I suppose...if it wouldn't be a problem for you." I said hurriedly, shooting a glance at Remus. He smiled and just laughed.  
"Where do you want to learn?" Sirius asked me, waiting for my answer before we went into the common room.  
"Inside. I don't care, wherever is best." Remus and Sirius exchanged a a glance. "The portrait?" James asked them. Lily and I stared at each other, not understanding.  
"That's what we were thinking," Remus explained to him.  
"But it's kind of risky, we're already out late anyway." Peter cut it nervously.  
"Yeah, but we can use the back way to get in..." James thought.  
"I think this is brilliant, besides, James could bring Lily. She doesn't know about it anyway, we might as well tell her." Sirius pointed out.  
"But it's a risk!" Peter squealed.  
"Then don't come, Wormtail!" Sirius said in an exagerated voice. "Frothpot." Peter told the waiting portrait. And thenit did the most amazing thing, it opened. It swung open, like a door. And through it I could see many kids our age, some older, some younger, all messing around in a large room with chairs and tables and snacks. And it looked better than what we were going to do, even thought I didn't know what we even were doing. Peter climbed through and the portrait swung closed behind him. Then we were standing in the dim light of the torches on the walls.

"So are we going?" James asked impatiently.  
"Yeah. Sure. Maddie, you want to?" Remus asked me happily.  
"Sure, why not?" I asked.  
"Lily?" Remus asked her.  
"Oh, I don't know, Remus..." Lily told him.  
"Please?" Remus said, something in his voice that plead with her. "Oh, all right." Lily gave in, rolling her eyes. Then james took her hand and started leading her down the hall. Sirius and Remus stood on either side of me, looking around uneasily. James and Lily were talking in low tones a few paces ahead of us. Sirius glanced at me from out the corner of his eye and smiled. He chuckled a little bit.  
"Odd, isn't it?" Remus said. I couldn't tell who it was directed to.  
"Yep, Moony, old pal, I think we've found a new member to our little foursome...maybe we'll kick Wormtail out!" Sirius replied, a smile lighting up his face.  
"Or maybe not...besides, she doesn't know." Remus pointed out.  
"I don't know what?" I asked them.  
"Ah..." Remus hesitated.  
"Everything, darling." Sirius informed me.  
"Oh really, Mr. Bigshot? And you do?" I asked, offended.  
"Well, you don't know many things. You may never know them, either!" Sirius explained, laughing.  
"At least I know spells that most people don't, and I pay attention in class, and I don't duel just to hurt people that are in my way! At least Remus tried to talk instead of fight!" I said hotly.  
"And at least I've got girls swarming all over me!" Sirius joked.  
"Why did I come, again?" I asked them, stopping.  
"Because we're here."James called back at me. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at a portrait of four men sitting at a table, playing cards. The four men moved and one man rejoiced silently for his apparent win. James muttered something and the portrait swung open, revealing a room with a table and four comfortable chairs. The was a light coming from somewhere unknown. The room looked warm and open. Remus walked me up to the wall and helped me climb over the high threshold.

"What is this place?" I asked. It was beautiful in a deserted way. There was writing on the walls, spells and hexes and a moon chart on the wall. There were now five chairs; Remus had conjured one from out of the air. And now on the small table, there were five tall glasses full to the brim with a light golden liquid.  
"It's our little getaway." Remus smiled, suddenly next to me.  
"Our little Room of Requirement, if you will." James cut in, flopping into a chair. I sat down Lily sat next to him. I sat next her, and Sirius ran for the chair next to me just to annoy me, which he did a good job of. But Remus, who was closer to me, sat down first, leaving the last chair to Sirius, between himself and James. "The room of what?" I asked them.  
"See, this is why we're having this conversation." Sirius sniffed.  
"This is a room no one but us know of. Us five, plus Peter know about this place. We made it and do a lot in here. And if Severus Snape EVER finds of it's here, I have the feeling Sirius will curse you to kingdom come." Remus explained to us.  
"Ok, let's start with why you hate him. He seemed slightly alright with Lily, but not with you three." I questioned them. Lily got stiff.  
"What?" I asked her.  
"Severus and Lily...don't have...the best of...well...let's just say they used to be friends and now..." Remus started, not being able to find the words.  
"Snivellus and Evans were best friends until last year because we got into a row and Lily got involved and he called her a you-know-what." Sirius explained to me.  
"Thanks, but I wasn't asking you." I sneered. "Besides, what's a you-know-what?" I felt clueless and a little behind. Lily and Severus?  
"A mudblood." Lily sighed unhappily. "He called me a mudblood."  
"Oh." I said sadly. I wasn't a mudblood, but I had friends at my old school who had been. And I remembered how they had been taunted about it. But I couldn't believe it, Severus would call her something like that? WHen I voiced these thoughts, Sirius and Remus both chuckled.  
"Are you kidding me!?" James shouted.  
"What?" I asked, startled.  
"He's a prick! Just because we were beating on him doesn't make him the good guy!" Sirius laughed.  
"It doesn't mean you are either." I said angrily.  
"Ok, ok. We're here to learn." Lily reminded us.  
"Right. Now, young Maddie, we're going to teach you about every teacher, every secret passage, everything you need to know." Remus smiled happily.  
"Well, almost everything." James mumbled. Remus and Sirius laughed heartily. I don't think I need to tell you everything they told me that night, they just explained that most teachers loved Remus and hated the other three. I could see why; Remus was kind to me the whole night, trying to become my friend. He did a good job of it, too. He was sweet and really a not so bad guy, unlike Sirius. The boys told Lily and me about secret ways to Hogsmeade, the town that everyone in their third year and over could visit, they told me about everything. And finally, when the clock struck eleven, we decided to go back. We almost got caught by one of the ghosts patroling the halls, but we ducked into a deserted classroom. They had explained about the ghosts, too. They were harmless, but a few were always trouble. Like Peeves, the annoying ghost who dropped dungbombs and set off fireworks in the halls.  
"Well, thank you." I told them when we went into the common room. It was beautiful, pictures and pieces of memories stucks on the walls, the fire was crackling low and the red and gold tables and chairs and couches glowed fiery red. Books were scattered on tables and bags were hanging form the back of chairs. Lily led me to the winding staircase up to the dorm room. We were sharing one with no one else, which would probably work to our advantage of staying out late. I yawned a wide one and smiled sheepishly at Lily.

"That was a great first day back." Lily told me.  
"Yeah, first day." I smiled in spite of myself.  
"Give me your schedule!" Lily asked of me suddenly. I handed her my piece of paper that had my classes on it. I hadn't even looked at it yet, I had folded it up in my pocket. She unfloded it and examind mine. She smiled and it only grew wider as her eyes scanned the rest of the little slip of paper. Then she held mine and hers up next together for me to examine. I stared for a long moment and then broke in a giggle. "We have the same thing!" I squealed.  
"And so do Remus and James!" Lily said happliy. We laughed together for awhile.  
"What about the other boys? Sirius?" I asked, hoping he didn't have the same as me.  
"Well...I know us four have transfiguration together. And maybe a few other things. But James and Sirius are really tight, so they were sad to see they weren't in a lot of their classes together. But sometimes Remus and Sirius are more tight than James and him. It's so hard to keep up with these boys." Lily sighed, smiling and shaking her head.  
"Tell me about Severus." I said softly. "What happened? What's he like?" "Don't trust him." Lily advised me. "He'll make you think something, and then he'll just...he'll hurt you. Please, Maddie, don't try to find the good in him. He's what you see, nothing more. There's nothing beneth the surface and nothing that he can ever say that will make me forgive him."  
"Is that what you did?" I asked her. "Try to find the good in him?"  
"Yeah. And you can see how well that worked out for me." Lily smiled sadly. I could see that she was broken. He had done something that had hurt her so much that she was never going to be the same Lily as I could have known.  
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter were beating on him before we got here." I smiled.  
"Yeah, they do that." She said, laughing, an edge in her laugh.  
"Well, we'd better get to bed."

The next day, I woke to a scream coming from my bed-side.  
"Lily! Lily! What's wrong?" I asked her, quickly tearing off my sheets and running to her bed. Lily was breathing heavily, sweating and looking confused. "What's wrong?"  
"I don't know...I had a dream..." She trailed off, shaking her head.  
"What happened?" I asked her.  
"I don't remember...there was a boy...he looked familiar, but I don't know him. And he had this thing on his forehead. Like a...a...a scar. A jagged scar...but...I can't remember. It was probably nothing." Lily said, shaking her head. I looked at the clock. It read 6:00 AM.  
"Well, this is what time I was going to wake up anyway." I sighed.  
"I'm sorry." She whimpered.  
"Not a problem!" I said, shaking it off with a dismissive flick of my hand.  
"Waking up now its a good idea, though."

"At 6?"  
"Yeah, but we have classes. At Eight. But I always get up early to get my stuff together. Last year I got up at seven and almost always came in right as the class started. Plus, we have to eat and get our books packed and get to class."  
"You'll help me, won't you?" I asked her, standing up and walking to my closet. I tripped on the edge of the rug and went running into the wardrobe. "Ow..." I said, rubbing my head, which had gone into it first.  
"Are you ok?" Lily said worriedly, walking toward me, clearly trying to surpress a laugh. "Fine." I muttered, looking at the carpet. "It just popped out of nowhere." That made Lily laugh, and she let it all out. She was pretty, with light red hair and bright green eyes. She had a wide, white smile and a kind look to her. I had white-blonde, with brown eyes. I had had brown hair, but then I dyed it when I was 14. "Well, we'd better get going. Don't want to be late." Lily reminded me. I reached into my wardrobe and pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans and a neon blue shirt that read "Your Brown Eyed Girl." I pulled them on quickly and then reached for my robes. They were billowing and black, long and annoying. I pulled them on next and flipped my hair back over my shoulder. I grabbed my brush and pulled it through my layered hair. I scanned my bed-side table to try to find my necklace. It was a small crystal boroque necklace with a real diamond in the middle.

"Pretty." Lily said, eyeing the necklace. I couldn't get it to latch on the end.  
"Thanks...could you help me?" I asked her, pulling my hair over shoulders and waited as Lily got the clasp to hook.  
"Where's it from?" She asked me.

"My sister." I said. I heard a bitter sadness in my voice.  
"What's her name?"  
"Er...Sophie."

"Well, when do I get to meet her?"  
"Sometime." I fake promised.  
"Well, we should go." Lily said, sighing and smiling at me. I smiled back.  
"There's probably no way the boys are up yet?" I joked.  
"Yeah, they're usually a few minutes late or right on time." She laughed. There was a wooshing sound outside our window. I almost didn't want to know what it was, but then it came again and again. Lily and I exchanged a worried look and went cautiously to our window. Just as we got there, another woosh went by, a blur of black past our curtains. I held onto Lily's forearm as we started to get closer. Then, when we were there, Lily ripped the curtains away fromt he window to reaveal....nothing. I leaned my head out the window to look for the source of the noise. "Look out!" Someone yelled. I pulled my head back inside as someone raced against the wall. Which I didn't understand, because they were zooming along, but we were on the seventh floor. Something told me I wasn't going to like what was out there. Then Lily looked at my confused face and laughed.

"Oh, James..." Lily sighed.  
"Huh?" I asked her. She shook her head and pushed her head out the window.  
"JAMES POTTER!" She called.  
"What?" Said a voice. James was sitting next to the window a second later, smiling wide despite his messy hair. He took his hands off of the broomstick he was perched on and adjusted his glasses. "James!" I said, clutching my heart. He had scared me. "What are you doing?"  
"Practicing." He smiled widely.  
"More like trying to wake everyone up!" Lily scolded.  
"Hey, we have to practice sometime!" Another too-familiar voice reminded. Sirius Black zoomed up next to his friend. This was an act that looked ridiculous; riding on broomsticks? What was this, a joke?  
"Practice for what? The dork finals?" I yawned. "No, quidditch!" James smiled. It was obvious that he was very happy about this fact.  
"At 6:00? I didn't know you guys had that much energy to wake up this early!" Lily laughed. I did too. After being awake until 11:00 last night, teaching me about the do's and don'ts of Hogwarts, I would think they would be exhausted.  
"Yeah! Then we go back to bed and skip classes!" Sirius joked.  
"Well, we have to go. Don't be late to classes, James. Mcgonagall hasn't forgptten about last time, I'll bet." Lily scolded him.  
"Yes, ma'am!" James saluted us. We returned our curtains to normal and grabbed our bags of books. We checked the clock, which now read 6:45. We hurried down, making sure we had all of our books and our schedules. When we got into the common there were six people already, reading or getting ready to leave. We took off through the portrait hole and down the stairs. We reached the great hall in record time, panting slightly. We steadied ourselves and stood up straight and entered the great hall. Food was already in the large dishes. A few people were in the hall already, a few Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Severus and his group were at the Slytherin table, laughing loudly and joking. He saw me from afar and smiled and nodded. I ignored him; I was staring at one person. Remus was sitting at the Gryffindor table. He was the only one there.

"Remus!" I called. He was buried in a book, not eating. He looked up when he heard someone call his name. He looked around and found us running for him. He dog-eared his book and stood up to greet us. He was wearing a wide smile and his grey eyes danced when we got to him. I gave him a hug, and he returned it. Lily did the same and then we sat down, talking and laughing almost as much as the Slytherins were. "So, did you know that James and Sirius were flying outside our window this morning?" Lily asked Remus. We sat on either side of him, so he had to turn his head to talk to her and then back to me, and so on.  
"Actually, yes. I told them not to be late again. I bet Mcgonagall hasn't forgotten about last year." Remus laughed.  
"What happened?" I asked them.  
"Well, see, Sirius and James thought practicing for the Quidditch final was more important than classes, so they skipped their first one that day and came into their second late, which was Transfiguration. So they walked in and were exhausted, and weren't watching where they were going and walked right into a cabinet next to the door the Mcgonagall had moved overnight. They fell over, everybody was laughing, and then one of the dungbombs Sirius had in his pocket exploded, causing the whole room to smell bad for the rest of the day. Then James pulled Sirius up so he could stand, he turned and ran headfirst into Mcgonagall and made her fall over. Not the best day for those two." Remus laughed as he told the story. Lily laughed remembering and I laughed as I hear it. "Of course, they got double detention. For weeks..." Lily said happily.  
"I bet they did." I laughed. We all ate then, piling food on our plates and getting full as everyone came in. It was 7:45. I guessed we had to leave soon and I was right.  
"We need to get started soon." Remus said, putting his book in his bag. "Yeah, let's get there. Maybe there's candy for the first three there!" Lily joked.  
"You're STILL hungry?" I asked her, shocked.  
"No, but I love candy!" She laughed. Remus chuckled and we all grabbed our bags. I slung my light brown leather bag over my shoulder as we left. We hadn't seen James or Sirius in the hall, and as much as I hated Sirius, I worried for them as we took off for class.


	3. Chapter 3

I was suprised to find out that that day was going to be the first Hogsmeade's visit right after school. It was an unexpected pleasent suprise. I had lost track of things, and everyone was excited. I asked why and both Remus and Lily looked at me in an odd way that said I was clearly behind. We got to class on time, actually well before the class started. And we were even more suprised to see James and Sirius sitting on two tables talking and laughing.  
"So, if it isn't Mr. BigShot and Mr. Quiddich Man! Thanks for showing up, but we won't be needing you today. Or come to think of it, we won't need Sirius EVER." I joked and sneered at Sirius.  
"Oh, babe, you'll need me before you know it." Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows.  
"That's sick." I spat.  
"Sure it is." Sirius laughed. I rolled my eyes and picked a seat in the middle of the class. Remus sat down next to me, James next to him, and Lily sat next to him, leaving Sirius to sit on my other side. I wasn't happy with this seating arrangement but didn't want to be away from the only people I knew. When Mcgonagall walked in, we were still the only ones in there.  
"Oh! My dear! What have were here?" She asked, eyeing us suspiciously. "Wait, is that really Black and Potter in my class on time?"  
"Yes ma'am, even we were suprised." I laughed at her amazed look.  
"Oh, hello Miss Warring, I forgot you were in my class first hour." The professor looked at me approvingly. "But I can't help to ask why you've acquainted yourself with a two of the biggest troublemakers at Hogwarts? I can uderstand Mr. Lupin and Miss Evans, but Mr. Potter and Mr. Black?"  
We all five laughed and smiled until the whole class filled up. Then among much of the talk and banter, Professor Mcgonagall stood up. The room got fairly quiet then, and we started into class. I had done this exercise before at my old school. It was turning a teacup into a rabbit. Lily and I were the first to get it, James, Sirius, and Remus never did. They were goofing off and being lazy. I knew Remus could have if he tried, but he didn't.  
"Alright, class, now focus!" Mcgonagall reminded us. "You need to becomeone with the-"  
"RABBIT!" Lily and I squealed at the same time.  
"Yes, with the rabbit-"  
"No, professor, we made a rabbit!" I said happily. Mine was a light grey while Lily's was a deep black, and she had even made it have green eyes.  
"Very well done, girls! Take ten points each for Gryffindor and five for the eye color of Miss Evans'." The professor chortled. I smiled at Lily and she beamed with pride. We looked down the row at the boys to see they had all either broken their teacups or turned them into a teacup with a tail.

The next classes throughtout the day weren't nearly as fun as the first. Many of the teachers made us play one of those name games or some other useless thing. So we went through our classes all happy and feeling very free. We met up for lunch and a free period and then back to classes. This was a very relaxed school and I figured I would like it a lot. So when I had a class with only Remus for my last one, I was glad we could talk without interuptions.  
"Why didn't you try harder in Transfiguration?" I asked in Charms. We were practicing cheering charms, a brush up task.  
"Ah, I've done that a million times. It's a sort of bore now." I tried to do the charm on Remus, but I couldn't find the energy.  
"I can't do it...you try." I smiled. He flicked his wand at my face and I instantly felt tingly and happy and like I could do anything I wanted. A wide grin plastered my face and Remus laughed happily.  
"Wow, you're good at that!" I grinned.  
"Thanks. Your turn!" Remus said, wiping the smile of his face and sat very still in his seat. I could do this, I could do this. I flicked my wand at his face and his mouth widened into a grin too. The class ended right then and Professor Flitwick said something about a choir practice. "Choir?" I asked Remus.  
"Yes, Professor Flitwick is the choir teacher, as well. None of us do it though, we don't sing. Do you?" He said this all very fast and excited, for he was a very happy person at the moment.  
"I like to, yeah!" I said, flipping my hair behind my shoulder and out of my face.  
"Sing something for me!" Remus pleaded.  
"No, no, not right this second, how about later?" I said.  
"If we hurry, we could get Sirius, James, and Lily and we could go to the secret room." Remus whispered in my ear.  
"Sure!" I smiled, giggling. We set off in search of the three. We found Lily and James first, walking down a deserted corridor. That was odd, I thought.  
"Lily Evans!" I called. She turned wildly. She saw me and grinned with relief. "Hey, you guys!" James laughed, smiling at us. He wiggled his eyebrows at Remus, Remus rolled his eyes and shook his head. We decided to let Lily and James do whatever they were doing before and go ourselves. We got into the room and shut the portrait behind us. "Well?" Remus said, smiling. The cheering charms had worn off, but Remus smiled anyway. I took a deep breath.  
"Remus, I've never sang for anyone." I said, staring at the floor.  
"Ok, well, I can be the first!" Remus smiled.  
"Ok...are you sure?" I asked him.  
"Yeah, why not?" He smiled.  
I sighed. I took in a deep breath and.  
"We get it on most every night When that old moon gets so big and bright It's a supernatural delight Everybody was dancin' in the moonlight Everybody here is out of sight They don't bark, and they don't bite They keep things loose, they keep things light Everybody was dancin' in the moonlight."

I cut the song short, and stared at Remus's face. He didn't say anything, which I guessed was good. His mouth was a little "o" and I couldn't understand why.  
"That bad, huh?" I asked, blushing.  
"Maddie..." Remus started, looking purely shocked.  
"I'm sorry, Remus, I told you, I've never sang for anyone before and I'm really nervous and you're right there and I love that song and I'm sorry it must have been awful, but you asked me to so I did and-"  
"Maddie, that was amazing." Remus stopped me mid-speech.  
"What?" I asked, thinking I must have heard him wrong.  
"That was...beyond amazing. That was spectacular." He said, grinning so wide I thought his mouth would shatter.  
"You liked it?" I asked, blushing. "You really like it?"  
"You should join the choir!" Remus thought. "You'd be amazing!"  
"Oh...I don't know..." I said hesitantly.  
"Well, why don't you think about it? But for right now, James, Lily, and Sirius are probably looking for us." Remus laughed.  
"Yeah...wait, why would they be looking for us?" I asked, feeling a bit slow.  
"The Quiddich practice. Remember? They're going to teach you, Lily, and me to fly."  
"Oh! Right! We'd better get going then, they probably-" I started, grabbing my bag from off of a chair.

"After I ask you something, though." Remus said, grabbing my arm as I swung the bag on my shoulder, causing me to hit myself with the bag. "What?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head.  
"What's your impression of our little group so far?" Remus asked me honestly, leaning against another chair.  
"Well...I think Lily's wonderful. She's kind and sweet and pretty and she seems to really lke me."  
"She's glad to have another girl. She doesn't have many girl friends." Remus laughed.  
"And Peter doesn't really have any impression on me."  
"Good. He's not the most interesting person in our little group."  
"James is really just a big bully, but he's a lovable bully. I can't understand why Lily likes him; he acts like a big important person when really he's just like the rest of us. And he thinks So I guess I don't really know how to feel yet." I said, biting my lip as I spoke.  
"James isn't so bad! He's really a good guy."  
"And Sirius is a...he's so...ugh, I can't even find the worst word possible. He's awful, he's terrible, thinking he's all cool and smart and handsome, and he's a stuck up little-"  
"You know, I'm really starting to like you, Maddie Warring. You might be the first girl to ever say that about him." Remus laughed.  
"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.  
"Well, everyone thinks James is a big Quiddich star and the Sirius is his super handsome best friend. And that Lily is kind and a nerd. And that Peter is a dork." Remus added laughing. I just stared at him.  
"Girls think Sirius is....what?" I was confused.  
"Well...they think Sirius is...well, sexy." Remus shrugged.  
"Oh, that's disgusting." I faked barfing.  
"Ha, yeah that's what we all say." He laughed.  
"Wow...oh, I think you're nice. You may be the nicest one of the group. You have my trust so far...don't screw it up." I smiled at him and pointed my finger at him. And then we grabbed our bags and started for the common room.

It was a warm Monday afternoon, about 4:00. And I was spending it sprinting down the long halls toward our common room with one of my best friends. Remus and I ran faster and faster toward the Gryffindor common room, trying to push ourselves to beat the other. Remus won, but only because I wasn't watching where I was going and ran into an open door. I was fine and he checked, but then took off a hundred paces ahead of me. We laughed and laughed all the way down the halls. We finally came to a halt in front of the portrait and Sirius was lounging outside, checking his wristwatch. "Hey, there you guys are. What took you so long?" He smiled. "Ooh, Moony, did you get some action?"  
"Ha Ha Ha No. Not funny." I said, pushing past him to get into the common room. Sirius grabbed my bag and spun me around. "James and Evans are down at the pitch, waiting for us. So bring your bags and come with." Sirius said, leading us down the hall. I pulled my bag out of his firm grip.  
"Don't we have Hogsmeade today?" I asked them.  
"At six. It's only four." Sirius informed me.  
"Wow, Padfoot, I'm suprised you knew that." Remus laughed.  
"Well, Moony, the only thing I like better than Quidditch is girls and butterbeer." Sirius laughed. He glanced at me.  
"And girls who don't know about Hogsmeade." Remus laughed, catching his glance.  
"And the only thing I like is being with friends and not big-heads." I reminded them. We took several turns down the halls and walked out the big front doors. Kids roamed the field in front of the castle and laughed and played. We started down the big steps. Then something flew at us, a piece of paper that been bewitched to fly at us. I ducked and it hit Sirius in the head.  
"Ow! What the bloody..." He said, picking up the note. He unfolded it, "'Stay away from her.'"  
"What?" I asked, reaching for the note. It read in slanted hand writing exactly what Sirius had said. 'Stay away from her'  
"I don't understand." Sirius said.  
"Me neither." I said, flipping the note over, checking to see if anything else was on the paper. There was. "The other side says...'or else.'" I looked at Remus.  
"Well, it's probably nothing. Just a joke." Remus said, pocketing the piece of paper.  
"SNIVELLUS." Sirius said angrily.  
"Sirius, there's no need to be blaming people." I told him.  
"He's a little-"  
"Sirius. The Quidditch pitch." Remus said, taking his arm and leading us away again. We walked in silence, everyone thinking about the same thing. What had the note meant?

"Hey, took you long enough!" James yelled from up in the sky. He was zooming around on his broom, laughing happily to be back on the pitch. "Where's Lily?" I called.  
"Up here!" Lily called, waving from the highest stand. "By the way, Maddie, we were going to go to Hogsmeade together, us five. You want to come?" Remus invited me, smiling.  
"Yeah, I'd love to!" I smiled.  
"Yeah, and then we can teach you all about it. And me." Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows. I sighed.  
"Nasty, nasty, nasty. Are you ever going to give up?" I shot at him.  
"Probably not." Sirius shrugged. We walked into the pitch just then, and the sight of the place made me smile. It was huge. It could easily fit everyone into it, teachers and kids. James flew around far above our heads. Lily was taking the stairs down two at a time to meet us. I looked at Remus, and he looked at me and we smiled at each other.  
"Do you fly?" I asked him.  
"Not at all." He replied, laughing.  
"Hey!" Lily greeted us, running, out of breath. "James wanted me to get this for you." She said, pushing a broomstick into my hands.  
"For me?" I repeated, looking at the broom.  
"Yeah! Let's see how the princess flies!" Sirius laughed. "Accio broomstick!" He yelled to the open sky. A second later, his broom was zooming toward us fromt he castle. He grabbed it, hopped on, and took off, whooping, into the sky. A woman came out onto the field.

"I see we have our two best players back!" She yelled up at the boys. She was short and plump, with glasses. She looked over at us three standing on the field. "Ah, Miss Evans, it's good to see you back! And Mr. Lupin! And who do we have here?" She asked, eyeing me.  
"Maddie Brady," I introduced myself. "I'm new."  
"And do you fly?" She asked me, pointing to the broom in my hands.  
"Oh, I've never tried. But James Potter got me this. He wanted to try me out." I informed her.  
"Potter is the captain of the Gryffindor Quitdditch Team. If he wants to try you out, I'm not one to stand in his way." She smiled. "I'm Madam Hooch."  
"Thank you, Madam." Remus told her, smiling.  
"Not at all. Now, I'm going back into my office. Don't try to kill each other." She advised us.  
"Waaaaaaiiiiittttt!" Sirius yelled, zooming to a sudden halt in front of Madam Hooch. "Where are our balls?"  
"I'll go get them." She walked off the feild, smiling to herself. We all laughed.  
"What?" Sirius asked, smiling as if he knew exactly what. Hooch reappeared a moment later with a large case. She dropped it in front of Sirius.  
"Here are your balls. Don't get anyone...hurt." She wagged a finger at him and went off the field again. Sirius turned to me.  
"Alright Princess, let's see how you fly."


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm scared." I whispered to Remus.  
"Don't be." He whispered back.  
"What if I fall?"  
"You won't." Remus replied.  
"But what if I do?" I asked him again.  
"Then I'll catch you." He promised.  
"Swear?" I asked skeptically.  
"Yep. Now go!" He said in a regular voice. Sirius was staring at me, smirking. "Now, climb on the broom and push off the ground." Sirius directed me. I perched on the broom and pushed off the ground lightly. I was hovering barely above the ground. Maybe three feet. Remus and Lily cheered. James whooped. Sirius just laughed as he soare into the air maybe forty feet above me.  
"Now lean forward and angle yourself up!" Sirius called down to me. I did that. I flew up farther and farther. I smiled and laughed happily. I soared up to the point Sirius was at. I stared down and almost fell off my broom. I was so scared.  
"First time's always the hardest." Sirius told me encouragingly. He took his hands off the broom to pick a piece of lint off his shirt. I whimpered.  
"Put your hands back on that broom, Sirius Black!" I squealed. He laughed but did as he was told. Then he did something very, very stupid. He faked falling. I grabbed his arm as he went back into a normal position, and that caused me to topple off the broom. I grabbed ahold of the broomstick as I tried to lift myself back on. Remus was yelling and Lily was screaming. I couldn't see James anywhere. Sirius was trying to pull me back on unsuccessfully. I was slipping more every second. I was scared out of my mind.

Then in my mind's eye I saw a small girl on a broom slipping. Her brown hair was matted to her face and she was sweating and shivering. And she was alone. Then she screamed as she fell a hundred feet to the solid gound below. Then the girl was lying there, leg, arm, and neck broken, barely able to breathe. No one found her until three hours later, and by then she was gone. Then I found the courage and energy to lift my upper body back on the broom and then swing my leg on and over the other side. Again, everyone cheered for me.

I soon decided that I was going to be alright, unlike the broken girl lying on the ground that had no one. I had friends with me who would help me. A single tear rolled down my cheek. I wiped it away and lay low on the broomstick, gripping it tight. Three...Two...One.  
Then I took off as fast as I could toward the three large hoops halfway across the pitch. I swerved easily. The broom moved at my every touch. I turned to look at the stunned Sirius. "Throw something at me!" I yelled at him happily laughing. He smiled a smug smile and flew down to the ground and opened thecase. He pulled out a large brown ball and got back on the broom, flying right back up to where he had been a moment ago. "I'm going to fly at you and throw this. You have to block it from going into one of the three hoops. Ok?" He yelled at me.  
"Ready!" I yelled back, angling myself so that I could get to any of the three hoops easily. Sirius flew at me fast, hurtling the ball toward the middle hoop. I kicked it easily with my foot and it flew right back at Sirius. He looked shocked and amused at the same time. He threw the ball at me again, at a different hoop. I swatted at it easily with my hand. Then I took the ball under my arm and flew at Sirius, ducking under him at the last second, flew straight at the hoops at the other end. James was hovering there, ready for the ball. I threw it through one of the hoops to the cheering of people below. I laughed at James' bemused face and soared back to the ground.  
"Prongs, didn't you say you needed a new keeper?" Remus yelled up to him as I came to a quick halt.  
"Not anymore, Moony!" James called back, going to get the ball.  
"Well done, I must say!" Remus cheered, giving me a hug.  
"Are you alright?" Lily asked worriedly.  
"I'm great! Never been better!" I squealed happily.

After James came back, he taught me all I needed to know about Quidditch. Like the balls you threw were called Quaffles. And the Keeper had to keep them from going through the hoops on each team. And the Chasers had to hit a ball called a Bludger at people to hit the Quaffle out of their arms. Or sometimes just to hit the people. And the most important person was the Seeker. They had to fly around the stadium looking for a little gold ball with wings called a Snitch. And it was worth 150 points and the game win. And as we were walking back to the castle, laughing and smiling and talking about the Hogsmeade visit, I knew that I was not going to end up like the brown haired girl who fell and died. She was not as strong as I was. And this fact made me smile. 


	5. Chapter 5

We got back to the common room at five thirty, and Lily and I told the boys we'd meet them in the common room at six. We ran up the stairs and went into our room. We both flopped onto our beds laughing and smiling. "This is a great day." Lily said.  
"Get used to it, sister. Now that I'm around, you'll have more fun." I joked. She laughed her bell-like laugh.  
"What are you going to wear to Hogsmeade?" I asked her, getting up and looking through my wardrobe.  
"I don't know...what are you wearing?" She asked me in a tired voice.  
"Don't you DARE fall asleep, Lily Evans." I warned her.  
"I'm not." Lily said laughing. "What are you wearing?"  
"I don't know...oh, I have an idea!" I said happily, clapping my hands.  
"What?" She asked, sitting up, suddenly interested.  
"My sister and I used to pick out each other's outfits. We could do that! I go through your wardrobe and pick out a cute outfit for James, and you pick out a cute one from mine!" I explained to her, watching as she rolled her eyes when I mentioned James.  
"That sounds great!" Lily agreed, hopping off the bed and walking to my closet. I crossed her and went through her clothes. She had cute things; silk shirts, hip huggers, short shorts, three pairs of platform shoes, five pairs of knee high boots, bell bottoms, four pairs of converse, belts, mini skirts, and flip flops.

I picked out a hot pink mini skirt with white tights, with a white tee shirt with "Jethro Tull" written in pink bubble letters, paired with pink converse. When Lily put it on and put her long red hair into a side ponytail, I nearly fainted.  
"SO CUTE!" I squealed. "I think so too! Thank you, Maddie. Now, for your outfit!" Lily plucked my outfit off the bed with a flourish. I smiled at her.  
"You have a good outfit taste." I complimented her.  
"Thanks, now put it on!" She squealed, clapping. I pulled on the outfit quickly. I stared at myself in the full length mirror. I loved it. A light pink tee shirt with a pair of black hip huggers and light pink go-go boots. And to top it all off, a black leather jacket. I thought it looked really cute. We looked at each other and smiled. I popped in a piece of gum and chomped on it. We checked the clock and realized it was time to go.  
"You look stunning for Mr. Remus." She smiled at me as we left the dorm room.  
"I so don't like him!" I squealed, fake punching her shoulder.  
"You so do!" "And what were you doing with Mr. Potter in the deserted corridor?" I said, arching an eyebrow. Lily blushed so much that she looked like a tomato.  
"Nothing." She giggled.  
"Exactly." I smiled. We met the boys in the common room. They weren't wearing anything special, jeans and tee shirts with converse.  
"I guess we aren't going dancing then?" Lily joked.  
"Oh, dear Lily, the night is young." James said, taking her hand.  
"You never know what James and I might pull, girls." Sirius said, laughing. Remus simply rolled his eyes. Peter was just standing there, looking at us all. I laughed at everyone's behavior.

I looked around the common room at everyone who was laughing and talking loudly. A boy ran through the crowd, chasing a younger boy who looked as though he had stolen something. Girls giggled and whispered at our little group, and I couldn't understand why. Then one girl at one group caught my eye and beckoned me over.  
"One second." I told Remus.  
"What's up?" He asked, looking worried.  
"Oh, nothing. I'm going to check something. Be right back." I strode over to the girl. She was tall with light brown hair and blue eyes. She smiled.  
"Are you friends with Sirius Black?" She asked me, giggling his name.  
"Ah...yeah, I guess so." I lied.  
"Are you his girlfriend?" She asked, hissing the last word.  
"Oh, no. Nothing like that." I told her, shaking my head.  
"Oh, good. Can you tell him that Lizzie says hi?" She asked of me.  
"Um...sure, I guess so. Can I ask why?"  
"Well isn't it obvious? He's a total babe!" She giggled. I didn't say anything, just stared at her. "What?" She asked.  
"Nothing, I just pity you." I told her, shaking my head and walking away. When I reached the group again, Remus looked at me with surprised expression.  
"Sirius, some girl named Lizzie says hi." I told him, glaring daggers at him. He looked around and found the girl's eyes and nodded to her, smiling. I turned and saw her blush and look away, giggling still. Poor kid, I thought.

We left the common room a few minutes later. I shivered once we got outside, the cold chilled my bones. We took off for the little town down the hill from Hogwarts. "So, who was that girl?" I asked Sirius.  
"Oh, I don't really remember." Sirius shrugged.  
"No wonder he doesn't remmeber. He snogs one girl for every day of the week." Remus explained, rolling his eyes.  
"Hey, what can I say?" Sirius shrugged, a twinkle in his eye.  
"I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's really hard to pronounce." I shot at him. That made everyone laugh, even Sirius.  
"I'm Rubber, you're glue." Sirius told me.  
"And maybe you should use some of that rubber to get a mint, cause you're breath is disgusting." I replied coolly.  
"Well, I could just use yours. C'mere sugar!" Sirius reached for me.  
"How about never? Is never good for you?" I retorted, jumping out of reach.  
"Aw, can't you be nice?" Sirius whined.  
"I'll be nice if you'll be smart." I snapped.  
"You wanna know what I think?" Sirius asked, smiling.  
"No." Lily replied lazily.  
"Sure. You're crybaby, whining-ass opinion is...?" I replied smoothly.  
"I think you like me." Sirius laughed. Everyone whipped their heads around to look at me. I curled my upper lip into a cruel smile.  
"Well, Sirius, you know what they say. See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil. But apparently that's not working very well, because I'm seeing and hearing you."  
"Yeah, but wouldn't you like to forget about that last rule?" He asked.  
"You're children are going to be famous. Every policeman will know them." I shot back.  
"Who's children will they be?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows.  
"Whatever kind of pickup line you were going for, you missed." I countered. "And as a bonus, If I want to hear the pitter patter of little feet, I'll put shoes on my cats." Everyone laughed at this.  
"Yeah, but cats don't have-"  
"Ok! Ok! Enough already, we're here!" Remus said, laughing heartily.

The small town of Hogsmeade was adorable and sweet. Everyone there was kind and whole-hearted. I found out that there was a trip to the town once a month, and for this I was happy. The sweetshop, Honeydukes, was where everyone bought their candy, from jelly beans and Drooble's best bubble gum to Chocolate flies and frogs. I stared around the shop as people grabbed things from off counters and dropped things and bustled through the busy shop. Next, they took me to look at the Shrieking Shack, which everyone believed to be cursed. Screams and loud moans came from there, and no one ever went near it. Next they showed me the post office, with hudreds of owls to send letters. There was the Hog's Head, which wasn't very popular, but people went there for quiet. Then there was the couple's tea shop, Madam Puddifoot's. And Zonko's Joke Shop looked interesting, but we were all too cold to go inside. So finally, they all took me into the Three Broomsticks, which served the best butterbeer I had ever tasted. We all sat and chatted while people bustelled around and laughed and joked while gulping down drinks.  
"So, Maddie, where did you go before this year?" Remus asked at one point.  
"Oh, I went to a few places, but I went to Dissiom, the American wizarding school." I replied, taking another sip of butterbeer.  
"And why did you leave?" James asked. Peter had long since left our group to go take a look at something at Zonko's and no one felt to go look for him.  
"Oh, I just decided there was too many bad memories there." I sighed.  
"Like what?" Sirius asked. Lily elbowed him in the ribs to gethim to shut up. "Ow! Ok, ok, sorry! Don't want to know."  
"Did you like it there?" Lily asked me.  
"Yeah, it was ok, I guess." I laughed.  
"Well, we're glad you're here. It's ood to have another girl." Lily smiled warmly.  
"OK, LOVERS! GRAB A PARTNER, BECAUSE IT'S THE ANNUAL OPENING DANCE FOR HOGSMEADE!" A loud voice shouted.  
"Want to dance?" James asked Lily, grabbing her hand and pulling her up to the dance floor. Music started, fast paced, good music. We all laughed at James's bad dance moves.  
"Want to?" Remus asked, turning to me.  
"Sure!" I said, taking his hand. We walked up to Lily and James and danced. We did some funny things, but Lily could really dance. James had eyes only for her, and I thought that was sweet. "Can I cut in?" Someone asked. I turned to see the tall boy, who was really cute, was talking to Remus.  
"Sure. She's all yours." He said in a protective voice. He gave me a smile and walked back to Sirius.  
"Hey." He smiled kindly, starting to dance awkwardly.  
"Hi there." I replied pollitely.  
"I'm Henry." Henry smiled.  
"I'm-"  
"Maddie. I know. Everyone's been talking about the girl who's friends with Sirius Black and Lovely Lily Evans." He laughed. I looked down at the floor.  
"Really." I stated.  
"Can I cut in?" Another voice asked. I turned to see Sirius grinning and waiting ffor an answer.  
"Actually, I was just going to get something to drink." I lied quickly. Henry looked disapointed, but understanding. "Sure, sure, you two go have fun." Henry said, waving a hand.  
"What does that have to mean?" Sirius asked defensively.  
"Oh nothing, just that you're getting a little too close for comfort." Henfry replied, sneering.  
"I'll let Maddie be the judge of that." Sirius snarled.  
"I don't think so." Henry replied. The music was too loud to have anyone hear what they were saying except for me. I backed away from the two and sat down next to Remus.

"What was that about?" He asked me. Suddenly, Sirius was on the floor, nose covered in blood.  
"Sirius!" I screamed, running toward him.  
"I'm fine, that little bastard can't throw a punch." Sirius snarled, spitting blood at Henry's feet.  
"Oh really, Black?" Henry said loudly, picking him up by the front of the shirt. Sirius was conciderablly larger than Henry, so I was amazed that he could pick him up so easily. Henry threw another one into Sirius's stomach, but Sirius blocked it and threw his fist into Henry's nose, definitely breaking his nose. Punches were thrown and fists flew, I couldn't watch. I cowered into Remus's chest as he pulled out his wand. James was there, pulling punches on a boy who was helping Henry. Lily was staring and shouting something that I'd rather not repeat.  
"Flipendo!" Remus shouted and Henry was thrown backwards into a few other boys. "Expelliarmus!" Lily yelled, shooting the hex at a boy who had pulled a wand.  
"Confundus!" A boy yelled. It was a randomly aimed curse, shattering a piece of wall.  
"CRUCIO!" Henry screeched, aiming for Remus.  
"NO!" I yelled, blocking the spell with my wand.  
"So sure you're going to save him, are you?" Henry screamed, picking up a struggling Sirius up. The music had stopped and everyone was staring at the ten or eleven boys who were fighting. Everyone was quiet now, the punches stopped and everyone stared.  
"What are you doing?" I screamed as Henry held his wand to Sirius's throat. Sirius struggled with many choice words, never looking away from Henry or me. Then Henry pointed his wand at me, smirking.  
"Don't touch her!" Sirius yelled.  
"Don't hurt him!" James and Lily yelled.  
"STOP THIS!" I screamed loudly.

"Crucio!" Henry yelled, letting Sirius go, the hex hitting me straight in the heart. I felt the floor drop out beneath me, the whole world crumble, and just felt the most pain I ever had in my life. The pain of the brown haired girl dying, the pain of myself feeling like I would never be able to live again, and the pain of feeling unable to save my friends, the pain of the brown haired girl's breaking limbs became my own. It lasted for what seemed like days, the sun could have risen and fallen a thousand times before I would break the surface. I actually FELT the brown haired girl die, I felt her breaking neck, her shattering arm and leg, her pain.

And then there was nothing. 


	6. Chapter 6

Something danced into my sight, though I wasn't really seeing. A small something, it was zigzagging lazily through my vision. It looked like a bird. A small, multicolored bird. And then a broom. A little brown haired girl on a broom zoomed lazily, catching the bird on the top of her hand. She laughed her tinkling laugh and let the bird go. "Are you always so little, Mads?" She asked me. Then the dream broke and I saw black behind my eyes.

Nothing made sense yet. I couldn't make sense of where I was, but I knew it was bright. This must be Hell, I thought to myself. Then I heard voices. Did they have voices in Hell? I didn't know. I was tired, and the voices only came as pieces at first.  
"Awake by..."  
"I'm...she'll..."  
"But...if...she doesn't..."  
"She will."  
"And...he...leave..."  
"Mr....why...not..."  
"...Friend..."  
"Classes..."  
"Don't...need...stay..."  
And then I heard two pairs of footsteps walking away. Low voices didn't make me comfortable, so I decided to fall back asleep.

I woke up to the sound of low moaning. And the odd part was, it was always the same moan. And then it stopped. I decided it was about time I opened my eyes and find out where I was. And for whatever reason I was here in the first place.... So I opened my eyes. And saw lights. Then when I let my vision adjust, I still saw lights. So I figured I was still in school, or Hell with flourescent lighting. And I ruled out that I was alone by the moans. I looked to my left and saw infirmary beds. I figured by then I was in the hospital wing at school, or the hospital in Hell with flourescent lighting.

Then I looked to my right. At first, I couldn't tell, but someone was sitting by my bed. Someone who wasn't a girl. He had his head in his hands, sitting on a chair. I couldn't tell if he was crying or just sitting there like a lump of something that refused to be moved. My first question was why he was here. The second was who this boy was. I couldn't remember anything from the past...well, whenever I had been asleep from up until now. I wondered if the boy knew. Then I froze. I realized who he was. Was Sirius Black really sitting by my bedside while I was in the hospital? Or maybe he went to Hell too. That wouldn't surprise me.  
"Sirius?" I asked. My voice was high-pitched and scratchy. Sirius suddenly looked up, looking around for who had spoken.  
"Sirius." I repeated. He looked at the bed, wide-eyed and relaxed, and when he saw I was awake, put a finger to his lips. He reached over to the bedside table and poured me a glass of water, which I realized I needed badly. I propped myself up on my elbows to talk then.  
"Hey, princess." He whispered, smiling. I smiled back, but still wondered why I was here.  
"Hey there. Why...what...Are we in Hell?" I asked. I couldn't figure out what to ask first so I asked the most reasonable question.  
"I don't think Hell has flourescent lighting..." He said, thinking about it. "But it's entirely possible. But no, we're in the hospital wing."  
"Why?" I asked him, glad to see I hadn't died.  
"You don't remember?" Sirius whispered, looking worried.  
"Not really...what should I be-" I cut the sentence short when I remembered in a flash. Henry. Sirius. Remus. Three Broomsticks. Fighting. Crucio curse. The brown haired girl. I gave a small groan and flopped back onto the pillow. I didn't want to remember, I didn't want to remember.  
"Yeah. But don't worry, they threw Henry out of school, Remus, Lily and James are alright, nobody got badly hurt, except for you, and life goes on. And no, I don't mean life goes on in Hell with flourescent lighting." He laughed quietly. I flew back to that night, remembering what I felt. I looked at Sirius, who had assumed a sad look on his face.  
"Why are we being quiet, again?" I whispered.  
"They've been trying to throw Remus and me out of here ever since that first night, but we decided we'd stay for you to wake up. Figured it might be just as well to stay and say 'Hi' when you woke up...we thought you'd probably think that you were in Hell. But..." Sirius shrugged, trailing off. So Remus and Sirius stayed for me?  
"And Lily and James?" I asked, not wanting to sound like I wanted attention.  
"Fine, but James had to stay for a day after the fight. He got knocked around a bit, actually shed a couple of tears over you when you weren't waking up...everybody thought...but Remus and I stayed. We had to stay for awhile, too, but after we got discharged, we stood up, grabbed two chairs and a deck of cards, and sat right here ever since." Sirius smiled proudly. "But eventually they said we had to go to at least one of our classes, so Remus chose Transfiguration and I chose Charms. Lily wanted to stay too, but she's too much of a worrier, so they kicked her out after a couple of days."  
"And everyone else is fine?" I asked again. Sirius nodded, smiling at the fabulous re-telling of his tale.  
"Wow, it must be early then. I said, looking out the window. The sun wasn't up, which I was surprised about. "Wait...Didn't you say Remus had Transfguration?"  
"Oh, he does in..." Sirius checked his watch, "In about 9 hours."  
"Wait...then that means..." I tried to count, but I was too tired to do it.  
"Remus is in the bathroom." Sirius laughed. "And actually...we can probably talk a little louder. The nurse said that she goes off to check the dorms at 10:30 and it's 11. So I guess we can talk normally now." At that second Remus strolled in, wiping his hands on his gray jeans. Sirius smiled at him.

"Padfoot, have you ever noticed that the bathroom in there is really disgusting? Of course you haven't, you only use the bathroom to snog girls and-"  
"MOONY. Don't let Maddie hear where I work on my evil schemes!" Sirius scolded, grinning broadly.  
"Padfoot, what are you going on about now?" Remus asked, looking around him to get a look at my bed.  
"MADDIE!" Remus roared, running toward the bed. He grabbed his chair and flipped it around, sitting on it backwards, and stared at me with kind eyes.  
"How do you feel?" Remus asked me.  
"Tired." I replied honestly.  
"Now why doesn't that surprise me?" Remus asked laughing.  
"So, Sirius filled me in on what's happened since Henry...but what happened to me?" I asked. The boys exchanged a look and that I couldn't quite understand, so I asked, "What?"  
"Well, the bastard hexed you and then...you kind of fell over and started twitching and no one could get you to come to, and then you stopped twitching and started screaming. And by then someone had alerted the teachers, and when you stopped screaming, you started crying and then you just stopped moving altogether. Remus and I picked you up and carried you to Madam Pomfrey, who was alreeady running down the lane, and she got you on a stretcher and got you here. James and I had to stay 24 hours, Remus had to stay 12, and Lily was crying and worrying, and then you just...didn't wake up." Sirius explained. There were things I understood and things I didn't.  
"How long?" I asked, nervously. I was ready to hear two days, three, maybe four at the most.  
"A whole week and a half." Remus said sadly.  
"And you guys stayed the whole time?" I asked, my jaw dropping by the second. My mind couldn't handle the fact that I had been out for a week and a half.  
"Everyone was scared to pieces." Sirius replied. "But everyone was too worried to be in here, and we were calm about it, though I bet under the surface, Remus was like I was."  
"Scared to death. Afraid that maybe the hex he used hadn't JUST been a crucio." Remus answered my confused look. "But yeah, we've been here the whole time." My stomach rumbled loudly.  
"Hungry much?" Remus asked, smiling.  
"Oh yeah." I replied, sitting up completely.  
"Well, I'll go downstairs and get some food. I'm a stealth agent." Sirius said, covering his eyes with his hands. He stood up and turned, running to the bed next to mine.  
"Yeah, real stealthy." I replied, rolling my eyes. Then Remus laughed and Sirius took it seriously and slipped out the door, closing it quietly.

"He cried a lot." Remus said after a moment in silence.  
"Really?" I asked. Remus nodded. Just then, a tall boy with long, straight black hair walked in. Severus Snape.  
"Can I help you?" I asked coldly.  
"Yeah, what's up?" Severus asked, then seeing Remus, he smirked. "Ah...sorry to interupt the couple gathering."  
"Come in, and I'll hex you to kingdom come." Remus threatened, standing up. I had never seen him so upset over Severus.  
"No, no. What do you want?" I asked coolly.  
"To see if you were awake." Severus asked. "But I see you are, so I'll be going." He turned and started to leave, but Sirius walked in as Severus walked out, and they collided. "Oops." Severus sneered. Sirius looked down at the food on the floor and looked at Severus, and punched him in the nose. Blood went everywhere.  
"You know, I thought of you all day...I went to the zoo." Severus said, spitting blood at Sirius's feet.  
"Did your parents ever ask you to run away from home?" Sirius asked him angrily.  
"Calling you stupid would be an insult to stupid people." Severus shot back. Sirius circled him so Severus was standing in front of the door.  
"Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you had had enough oxygen at birth?" Sirius snapped. "Flipendo!" Snape went flying through the open door, and Sirius locked it behind him. He turned and smiled at us. "They didn't have any food." Sirius laughed. 


	7. Chapter 7

Madam Pomfrey explained to me the next morning that I would have to stay for another week to make sure I was OK. Usually she wouldn't have done this but the curse took such a toll on me that I would have to wait until I went back. My friends visited me every day, Lily cried when she saw me, and everybody was just generally nice. They filled me in on the fact that Henry was thrown out and was at trial for underaged-unforgivable-cursing. When word got around that I was going to be OK (and it got around way too quickly,) people were bringing me candy and flowers and cards of every kind.

James visited me often, though not as often as Sirius or Remus, to explain how the day went and who he had beat up that day. I always scolded him thouroughly for being such a meathead. And he always scolded me for being so uptight. For example:  
"So Sirius and I beat on Snivelly for coming to your room the other night." James informed me, smiling widely.  
"No!" I squealed, hand over my mouth.  
"What? What'd I say?" He asked, looking confused.  
"No more fighting!" I told him.  
"Oh! Ok, ok, no more." James said, looking scared.  
"James, it's just-"  
"Uh! Say no more." James said, holding up a hand, grinning.  
Sirius and Remus came to visit me more than anyone. Actually, they became late to most of their classes because they stopped by between most classes to see me, which was nice. They were two of my best friends. Lily visited on free periods to chat and laugh with me. She was still pretty shaken up and whenever I felt tired, (which I did a lot, but Madam Pomfrey said that that was normal for the after affects of an unforgiveable curse) Lily always on edge of her seat and when I woke, she was never there. The week seemed to drag, people came and went, no fighting was ever allowed in the room, and I was always sleepy. But the worst part was being unable to do things. The only thing I could do was read. And play cards sometimes. But mostly I slept, and that was never good because I had a reacuring dream.

There was a always a little boy, maybe a first year, completely naked. And there was another boy, a tall, white-blonde haired boy. And I could never remember what happened, but something did that always made me afraid.

And when I woke up, there was no one there to tell me I was alright and that it was only a dream.

The day I was released from the infirmary may have been the greatest day of my life. I wasn't tired anymore and I could be with my friends.  
"Hey, look, she's back to normal!" James greeted me, giving me a hug. His leather jacket smelled like home to me, a home that I had missed way too much. "Wait...since when?" Sirius asked curiously. He smiled and gave me my second hug for the day. "I'd insult you, but you're not bright enough to understand." I laughed.  
"Ha, you're funny." Sirius laughed.  
"Hey Mads." Remus greeted me, putting down his book to give me another hug.  
"MADDIE!" Lily screamed. She ran and tackled me in a hug.  
"I'm here! I'm here! OK!" I giggled, hugging her back.  
"Hey, Maddie!" A girl called, waving.  
"Hey, there she is." A guy said, high fiving me.  
"Who was that?" Sirius asked.  
"Dunno." I shrugged.  
"Maddie! There's someone outside for you." A girl told me, frowning slightly.  
"Oh, sure." I said surprised.  
"I'll come with you. Just in case." Sirius whispered, patting my shoulder.  
"Thanks, but I can take care of myself." I explained.  
"Yeah, sure you can." Sirius said, rolling his eyes. But he let it go, and I walked away toward the portrait hole. I opened it to see a boy standing there, alone.

"Hey." Severus greeted me, smiling.  
"Hi." I said coldly.  
"How are you feeling?" He asked, something shining in his eye.  
"Fine." I said, not looking at him now.  
"Look, I know that Potter and Black told you about Lily and me, but it was a misunder-"  
"A misunderstanding?" I asked coolly. "How is calling someone a mudblood a misunderstanding?"  
"It slipped out!" He sighed.  
"Slipped out?" I repeated. "SLIPPED OUT?"  
"Maddie, look, I really want to talk to you! I want to be your friend! And I tried to say sorry to Lily and she wouldn't listen. She called my friends evil and she just walked away from me before I got to finish!"  
"Which is exactly what I'm going to do now." I said, turning on my heel.  
"Wait!" Severus said, grabbing my hand. I whipped it out of his grip.  
"DON'T. Don't touch me." I hissed.  
"Maddie, can't you see? I'm truly sorry." He said. I looked into his black eyes and saw a pleading that made me want to accept his apology.  
"Why, Severus? What are you sorry for?" I replied smoothly, leaning against the wall, arms folded across my chest. "I'm sorry for what I said to Lily. I'm sorry for not being able to apologize. I'm sorry for everything." Severus said, taking a step towards me.  
"If you touch me, I swear to God, Severus-"  
"I'm sorry." He said again. He looked like he would cry. Then he turned and walked away before I could say anything to him.

"What was that about?" Remus asked when I came back into the common room. The crowd had died down now, but Sirius, James and Lily were no where to be seen.  
"Oh, just somebody saying hi." I said, hesitating at the end. Remus caught this.  
"What?" He asked, really paying attention now and putting down his book.  
"Oh, nothing..." I said, grabbing my quill and parchment from across the table. I had an essay due on Monday. Fridays were always hard on me, between friends and studying. So I started in, writing quickly. Remus grabbed the parchment away from me.  
"This says 'The Moon and the Friends'." He read. I blushed. Did I really write that?  
"No it doesn't," I said, taking the parchment back.  
"What's wrong?" He asked. I looked around to see a few groups chatting and studying. I leaned over to him.  
"Why do you guys all hate Severus so much?" I asked him honestly. Something flashed behind Remus's gaze and I knew I shouldn't have asked.  
"Come with me." Remus said after a second. He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the portrait hole. "Remus, where are we going?" I asked him.  
"To the room. We have to have this conversation." He said hurriedly. The sun was dropping like a big orange ball of yarn. When we reached the room, I looked at the calenders and things on the wall as Remus told me the story of Lily and Severus' complicated history.  
"So you see, being Lily's lover, James can't forgive him. And being her best friend, I can't forgive him. And being the lover's best friend, Srius can't forgive him. So...it's complicated." He explained. I couldn't quite understand why calling someone a mudblood was such a big deal, but I could understand why they can't forgive him. Remus looked anxiously out the window.  
"Look, I have to go." He told me, giving me a sad look and leaving me to look at the empty room in sadness and confusion. I thought of all the odd things happening to me lately, I thought about the brown haired girl, my dreams, the frustration of not understanding things I would like to, like why I was standing in a secret room alone. And I started to cry.

Then suddenly, the door started to open and Sirius came in, laughing, and pulling a giggling girl by the hand. When he saw me and my tear stained face, he let go of her hand and the smile wiped off his face.  
"Maddie?" He asked speechlessly.  
"Who is she?" I asked him furiously.  
"Who, her?" He asked, pointing at the girl behind him.  
"Yeah. No one's supposed to know about this room." I replied angrily. He turned and pulled out his wand. "Obliviate." He whispered. The girl went limp, and Sirius let the door shut behind him as he entered the room.  
"That's terrible." I snapped.  
"Not so bad." He shrugged.  
"Save your breath, you're going to need it to inflate your next date." I shot at him.  
"What's wrong?" He asked, a worried look on his face.  
"What do you care?" I asked, wiping my eyes. He stepped back and out the portrait door. I sat in one of the chairs and cried. I hadn't let myself cry since.... I looked up at the walls and saw pictures of the four boys laughing and having a carefree time. There was something about these pictures that didn't seem right, but I couldn't tell what. I looked at the writing on the walls, all the spells and hexes. There was a star chart on the circular wall and I stared at it for a long second and then it hit me that tonight was a full moon. It would probably be beautiful. So I sat in the room and thought for a long time until the sun disapeared behind the lake's horizon line. Then I wiped my eyes and got up and left the room behind.

That night, I had a dream of a full moon. And there was a boy, running far ahead of me through the forest, obviously trying to leave me behind. He turned and I saw his dark eyes. Sirius stared at me, full on, with a look of hatred.  
"Go back, Maddie." He growled, and just then his expression turned to a look only a truly scared person would have. Then something erupted from the forest, a large, hairy thing, standing on two legs. I had never seen anything so frightening, and yet it was beautiful in the moonlight. It looked to Sirius and smiled it's wolfish smile.  
"Hello, Padfoot." It said in a familiar voice. Then the scene disapeared and turned into all white, with the naked boy and the white-blonde boy, who was laughing. Then the next morning, I couldn't remember the dream of Sirius at all.

The next morning was a Saturday, and I decided to go talk to Severus. I was running down the corridor to find him. I hadn't wanted to wake Lily, so I threw on some clothes and went to breakfast. When I got there, many scattered students were eating and talking. I saw James first, sitting at the Gryffindor table, his head on the table on top of a book. Wow, James was actually reading. His mouth was open and he was drooling.  
"James." I whispered, prodding the boy's forehead. He stirred and made an "Mmm..." sound and dozed again.  
"James." I repeated, poking his shoulder now, harder.  
"JAMES." I called, prodding him a dozen times in the shoulder.  
"Please do not poke me." He yawned, looking up at me. "Oh! Maddie!" He straightened up, closing his book.  
"Hey James." I laughed, sitting down next to him.  
"Morning." He yawned. James had a scratch down the side of his face, very thin and very light, but fairly noticable.  
"Didn't sleep well?" I asked, scooping some cereal into a bowl and pulling it towards me.  
"Not much sleep, actually. Was up all night." James yawned again.  
"Out late?" I asked.  
"Er...depends on what you mean by 'out.'" He laughed, grabbing an apple. "But, Mads, listen, I gotta get going. Have some stuff to do..." He waved goodbye and left the great hall. His book fell off the table, and I grabbed it off the floor, reading the cover. The book wasn't actually a book at all, it was a comic book, called "Werewolf by Night." I laughed at the picture on the cover. It was a silly thing, really. Cartoon werewolves. Really, I thought, James couldn't do any better?

I looked all around the great hall for Severus, trying to find him. I wanted to talk. Suddenly, from the other side of the great hall, a loud laughing and shouting erupted. I looked to the Slytherin side of the Great Hall to see a boy completely naked. I gasped, both hands going to my mouth as I remembered the scene. I had seen it far too many times. He was short with red hair and was naked. Everyone was laughing and pointing. The boy's face got almost as red as his hair, and he ran from the scene. I searched the table for the white-blonde haired boy. He was sitting, laughing and grinning widely. He caught my gaze and nodded at me, still smiling. I turned my head curtly away. My mind flew through the possibilities. He hexed that boy. The boy was going to get in trouble, I just knew it. I was so upset. I hadn't even done anything. I needed to get the blonde boy's name. So I stood up and walked slowly over to the Slytherin table, which was far too routy now. The boy stood, too.  
"Your the new girl. Maddie, right?" He grinned a handsome grin. I was going to hate myself forever for what I was about to do. I leaned against the wall, and batted my eyelashes.  
"Yeah...and your name is...?" I said giving him a slow once over, smirking like a whore.  
"Lucius. Lucius Malfoy." He smiled, putting out a hand. I took it and smiled as our hands met. I hated myself. He held mine for longer than nesecary, smiling and giving me a quick once-over. I looked across the hall and saw Sirius staring at me, jaw dropped. I decided to punch it up a notch.  
"Well, maybe we could hang sometime." I laughed, watching his grin get broader.  
"Delicious, I'm sure." He laughed.  
"Thanks. I gotta go. Bye now." I winked, flipped my hair over my shoulder and walked away slowly, trying not to barf.

"Maddie, hey!" A voice called. It was the person I needed to see. Severus came running up to me.  
"Hey there." I replied. "Can we go for a walk?" I asked.  
"Yeah, let's go. Did you see that? Being naked in the great hall is strictly forbidden...Weasley's in deep shit." He laughed.  
"Yeah. Sure. Let's get out of here." I replied, holding my tongue for what I really thought of it.  
"Hey, Snivellus. Here, take this." Sirius called, throwing something to Snape. He looked at it in his hands. He smirked and threw it back at Sirius. "You need it more than I do, Black." Snape called. "And it works well with vinegar." Snape winked, and turned for the door again.  
"Maddie, I don't know why you even-"  
"Talk to me? Because she can you no-good, two-faced liar!" Severus yelled at Sirius.  
"Snape, you really want me to tell everyone?" Sirius asked, simpering at Snape.  
"Go ahead, tell everyone all you know. It'll only take about seven seconds." Snape retorted angrily.  
"Stop being so stupid, Snape!" Lily said, coming into the hall right then, backing up Sirius. "Sirius could kill you in thirty seconds."  
"Lily, don't you know? Old Snivellus isn't stupid; he's possessed by a retarded ghost!" Sirius laughed. "And 28, for the record."  
"Maddie, come on, let's go." Snape said, taking my arm in his firm grip.  
"Maddie, don't listen to him. He's not worth you." Sirius told me obnoxiously.  
"Sirius, you know, I'd really like to see things from your point of veiw, but I can't seem to get my head that far up my ass." I retorted, glad to see Lily, angry to see her defending Sirius.  
"Maddie, it wouldn't matter if you could, you've got no brains to see with, seeing as how blonde you are. So just stay out of it." Sirius said angrily. Everyone stopped there. Everyone got really quiet, though a few people went "Ooh!" I started to see things from eyes that had tears in them. How could Sirius? He could he say this to me? I thought we were starting to be friends.  
"Sirius. Anyone who told you to be yourself couldn't have given you worse advice." I said, leaving Snape and feeling hot tears roll down my face. Sirius was such a two-faced...God. And to think I let myself be fooled by him. 


End file.
